Sweyyy
New Member
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2019
- Messages
- 4
- Reaction score
- 2
I’m currently a PGY-4 at Upstate University Ophthalmology. I wanted to share my personal experience at this program and various positive changes our program has undergone since I have been a resident here.
Surgical/procedural exposure:
PGY2 - mostly oculoplastics cases. We work with 3 different ASOPRS trained attendings. The cases range from bread and butter blepharoplasties to eviseration/enucleation to orbital mass removal/decompression. As far as procedures, we start early in first year. I learned how to do an intravitreal injection in the first 4 weeks of residency. I felt comfortable with PRP, YAG capsulotomy and YAG iridotomy within few months of residency. As I progressed in first year, I got to do SLT.
PGY3 - this is the year we get to strab cases. We work with two pediatric ophthalmologists. We have half a day of Peds clinic every week with one of these attendings. You will get to do few cataract surgeries especially during your VA rotation.
PGY4 - this is when you will perform the bulk of your cataract surgeries. We have a large number of volunteer faculty in various subspecialties, who practice both in the academic and community/private practice setting. Due to this, we get exposure to many different settings and have the opportunity to learn surgical skills from different attendings. During two out of three rotations in this year, you’re operating 2 to 3 days per week. The third rotation (float rotation) in third year is when you get to gear the surgeries towards your interests. Especially if you’re are going into a subspecialty, you can utilize this time to become more proficient in your respective field, seeking out learning opportunities from the above mentioned subspecialists. On average, each resident can expect to do slightly over 200 cataracts. Overall we are very clinical and hands on program that is strongly supported by faculty.
Residents:
We have 3 spots each year. There were some confusions previously and some residents have miscommunicated it to our applicants so I would like to clarify this matter. We have 3 positions each year. In a prior class, we have lost a resident due to personal reasons, therefore only 2 residents were in that class. Currently we have a total of 9 residents, 3 from each class.
Call responsibilities:
PGY-2’s and PGY-3’s cover primary call. PGY-4’s cover back up call. Each month, the number of days of primary call are split evenly among the 6 residents. Although weekend call is mostly covered by PGY-2’s. Each of the three PGY-3’s cover one weekend day call each month, rest are covered by PGY-2.
Fellowship match:
Since I have been a resident, our fellowship match has been 100%. Our graduating class of 2018, one of out three residents was interested in fellowship and matched at University of Southern California for glaucoma. Class of 2019, this class only had two residents. Both applied to fellowship, one resident matched ASOPRS oculoplastics at Tennessee Oculoplastics and second resident matched uveitis at Mass Eye and Ear. Our program is very supportive and encouraging of residents going into fellowships. Once you know what you want to do, the faculty will do all they can to make your wishes come true.
If you have any questions, please let me know.
Surgical/procedural exposure:
PGY2 - mostly oculoplastics cases. We work with 3 different ASOPRS trained attendings. The cases range from bread and butter blepharoplasties to eviseration/enucleation to orbital mass removal/decompression. As far as procedures, we start early in first year. I learned how to do an intravitreal injection in the first 4 weeks of residency. I felt comfortable with PRP, YAG capsulotomy and YAG iridotomy within few months of residency. As I progressed in first year, I got to do SLT.
PGY3 - this is the year we get to strab cases. We work with two pediatric ophthalmologists. We have half a day of Peds clinic every week with one of these attendings. You will get to do few cataract surgeries especially during your VA rotation.
PGY4 - this is when you will perform the bulk of your cataract surgeries. We have a large number of volunteer faculty in various subspecialties, who practice both in the academic and community/private practice setting. Due to this, we get exposure to many different settings and have the opportunity to learn surgical skills from different attendings. During two out of three rotations in this year, you’re operating 2 to 3 days per week. The third rotation (float rotation) in third year is when you get to gear the surgeries towards your interests. Especially if you’re are going into a subspecialty, you can utilize this time to become more proficient in your respective field, seeking out learning opportunities from the above mentioned subspecialists. On average, each resident can expect to do slightly over 200 cataracts. Overall we are very clinical and hands on program that is strongly supported by faculty.
Residents:
We have 3 spots each year. There were some confusions previously and some residents have miscommunicated it to our applicants so I would like to clarify this matter. We have 3 positions each year. In a prior class, we have lost a resident due to personal reasons, therefore only 2 residents were in that class. Currently we have a total of 9 residents, 3 from each class.
Call responsibilities:
PGY-2’s and PGY-3’s cover primary call. PGY-4’s cover back up call. Each month, the number of days of primary call are split evenly among the 6 residents. Although weekend call is mostly covered by PGY-2’s. Each of the three PGY-3’s cover one weekend day call each month, rest are covered by PGY-2.
Fellowship match:
Since I have been a resident, our fellowship match has been 100%. Our graduating class of 2018, one of out three residents was interested in fellowship and matched at University of Southern California for glaucoma. Class of 2019, this class only had two residents. Both applied to fellowship, one resident matched ASOPRS oculoplastics at Tennessee Oculoplastics and second resident matched uveitis at Mass Eye and Ear. Our program is very supportive and encouraging of residents going into fellowships. Once you know what you want to do, the faculty will do all they can to make your wishes come true.
If you have any questions, please let me know.
Last edited:
